It seems every week I used the word “roller-coaster” when talking about the Bitcoin price! Just before Christmas, it reached an all-time high of $19,530, then just before the end of the year it fell back down to $11,985. Anyone watching the price movements closely is at risk of suffering whiplash! Here’s a chart of the last month showing the ups and downs: This morning the price reached $16,184, and at the time of writing it has fallen back to $14,708. ADVFN’s Cryptocurrency page gives you prices for Bitcoin and altcoins London Block Exchange has analysed the Bitcoin price rise in 2017 and concluded it’s not as wild as we think. Read their fascinating report here Meanwhile, Bitcoin and altcoins may be on the back foot but Ethereum is surging to a new high. It was trading at over $1,8000 in South Korea earlier today. Read about it on ccn.com And Dogecoin, a joke coin inspired by a popular internet meme, surged over the weekend and now has a market cap over $2 billion. Read about it on Business Insider Other Cryptocurrency News You may have read about two computer vulnerabilities that have recently come to light, called Meltdown and Spectre. These take advantage of security flaws in the chips in most computers, and could allow bad guys to steal private data – including your passwords for cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges. Google have written a summary of what you need to know, which you can read here Surging demand in cryptocurrencies is causing problems for exchanges which cannot cope with the volume, and several have put a hold on new users setting up accounts so they can continue to service existing customers until they can scale up. Cointelegraph.com has the story The US government seized a stash of Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash from a dark web dealer called Aaron Michael Shamo, and now it plans to sell the coins. A federal judge in Utah has given approval for the 512 Bitcoins and 512 Bitcoin Cash to be auctioned off. Read the details on ccn.com There continue to be high-profile nay-sayers who are convinced that Bitcoin is a bubble and it will all end in tears. Dennis Gartman, the so-called “commodities king”, is one such no-coiner. He has said he expects the Bitcoin price to fall to $5,000 and then crater, because it has no intrinsic value. Read what he said on ccn.com Similarly, the Chinese People’s Daily also says that Bitcoin is a bubble and compares the cryptocurrency to 17th-century tulip mania. Read the comments on ccn.com A different kind of nay-sayer is Egypt’s foremost imam, who has declared that Bitcoin are forbidden under Islamic law. He has issued a fatwa (a ruling of Islamic law issued by a recognised authority) that bans selling, buying or lending cryptocurrencies because they “cause harm to individuals, groups and institutions.” Read the story on ccn.com An employee of a UK-registered cryptocurrency exchange was kidnapped in Ukraine, and has now been released after a ransom of more than $1m dollars in Bitcoin was paid. Read the story on The Guardian Microsoft’s customer support has confirmed that the company is no longer accepting Bitcoin as a payment option – and hasn’t since last July. Read the story on ccn.com One of the attractive features of cryptocurrencies is the anonymity afforded to individuals who exchange the digital coins. However, that may not last, according to a cryptocurrency expert, who thinks that as technology develops in the future, the cryptography that underpins the blockchain systems may turn out not to be uncrackable. Read the story on Business Insider And a final bit of gloominess: cryptocurrencies have now become so expensive that they are preventing innovation, says an article on Tech Crunch. Read it here Happy new year! The Crypto Trader News, information, tips and opinions on all things to do with cryptocurrency. Purchase a subscription with Bitcoin, LiteCoin, Ethereum or PlusOneCoin. Click here for more information New Book on Cryptocurrencies out now from Clem Chambers The CEO of ADVFN, Clem Chambers, has a new book on cryptocurrencies out now in paperback and for the Kindle. Click here to buy the book from Amazon Trading Cryptocurrencies: A Beginner’s Guide - Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin is an invaluable guide to making money in cryptocurrencies: how they work, how to invest in them, trading cryptocoins, mining, and the technical details behind them. Click here to buy the book from Amazon. PlusOneCoin PlusOneCoin now available to buy and sell on the Trade Satoshi Exchange, here CME Bitcoin Futures ADVFN (LSE:AFN) is now offering free CME Bitcoin Futures data to its four million registered users. Anyone visiting the ADVFN site can obtain quotes, view charts and access real-time news for CME Bitcoin Futures here. Users can add these contracts to their portfolios and see bid, offer, highs, lows and current prices along with traded volumes. They can also view them on their monitor pages alongside their other investments. |
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